New-look Blue thrill fans

Effort and results in opener should convince more customers to show

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 26/6/2014 (896 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The empty seats -- and there were a record number of them at Investors Group Field Thursday night -- screamed of a Winnipeg Blue Bombers fan base that has adopted a "wait and see" attitude to this 2014 CFL season.

After just one spectacular regular-season game, it's hard to imagine what more Bombers fans could be waiting for. Or what else this new-look Bombers team could show them.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Winnipeg Blue Bombers' Aaron Woods heads east as Toronto Argonaut Thomas Miles turns west on Thursday at Investors Group Field. Purchase Photo Print

The Bombers stunned just about everyone in Canada -- with the notable exception of themselves -- with a 45-21 dismantling of a Toronto Argonauts team that according to the oddsmakers was the one expected to do the dismantling on this opening night.

The Bombers stunned just about everyone in Canada -- with the notable exception of themselves

If real change was what Bombers fans wanted to see this year before once again plunking down their hard-earned dollars on this team, then change is what they got -- all of it good.

The 24 points the Bombers scored in the first half alone were more than they scored in all but six games last year in a disastrous 3-15 season.

And if there were any questions still remaining about whether Drew Willy was ready to make the move from backup quarterback in Saskatchewan to a CFL starter in Winnipeg, they were resolved emphatically in just the first two quarters, as Willy shredded a pretty good Argos defence, completing 12 of 18 passes for 246 yards and three TDs.

As spectacular as those numbers were, they actually didn't do justice to just how good Willy looked in the first half. Willy's three first-half touchdown passes -- two to Aaron Kelly and one to Cory Watson -- were thrown with a pinpoint precision fans have not seen from a Bombers quarterback in a very long time, dropped in a moving bucket downfield in such a way that they were catchable by only the player wearing Blue and Gold.

And it wasn't just Willy and the Bombers receiving corps -- Kelly especially -- who looked good. This was exactly the kind of team effort that's also been a rarity in these parts in recent seasons, when even on the rare nights the Bombers defence would perform, the offence would let down the cause. Or vice versa.

Not this time, not this team. The Bombers won the line of scrimmage, in both directions. They won the turnover battle. They won the penalty battle -- decisively on a night a very well-coached Argos squad showed a stunning lack of discipline in taking, get this, 20 penalties.

And the Bombers defence accomplished one of the most difficult tasks in all of Canadian football -- they made Argos QB Ricky Ray and his not inconsiderable array of targets look very ordinary.

The 150 yards of offence the Argos registered in the first half was one-half of the 297 yards Winnipeg registered. And they looked ridiculous doing it, resorting to a series of flashcards on the sidelines to signal plays to the Toronto offence.

If the idea of the cards was to disguise the Argos' signals and/or to thwart the debut of defensive co-ordinator Gary Etcheverry's very unconventional Bombers defence, it failed. Miserably.

And when, for a few fleeting moments in the third quarter, it seemed like the Argos might have had some designs on a comeback, it was the Bombers defence that rose to the occasion again, forcing a fumble that defensive back Demond Washington picked up and ran 37 yards into the Toronto end zone to put the game away for good at 38-14.

The 24,872 fans who made the trip to IGF last night was the smallest crowd yet to see a game at the new stadium. But they were sold on what they saw, rising to their feet after the Watson touchdown in the first half in one loud, long and unequivocal standing ovation of approval that was a year in the making.

The question now -- and it's a big one, given the new mortgage bill this club faces this year -- is whether the fans who stayed home Thursday night will also now buy back in.

Bomber notes

Games all last season where they managed more, an Oct. 19 loss to Toronto where they racked up 466

0:11

The number of seconds left in the first half when the Bombers surpassed the total offensive yards they racked up in all of last season's debut

FAN-O-METER:

After last year's debacle, few could blame fans for being cautious, and large parts of the stadium leered almost empty. But if the Bombers can keep playing with that much spirit, something tells us we won't see that many empty seats at Investors Group Field again this year. The 24,872 fans who did make it out got a halftime treat: Bombers CEO Wade Miller presided over a ceremony for Global sports anchor Joe Pascucci, who retired from the beat this week after more than 30 years in the biz.

HASHMARKS:

-- Gotta feel for Cory Watson. The Bombers slotback has battled injuries for much of the last couple of seasons and was looking to get a healthy start to this one. Well, he did -- until he suffered an injury in the second quarter and was done for the night. Before he went down, Watson made two big plays, including snagging an electrifying 25-yard touchdown strike from Drew Willy.

-- The Bombers opened this season a little more grizzled than last, the first time since 2011 they haven't been the least-experienced team in the league on opening night. This year, the Blue & Gold average 2.36 previous seasons and 30 games played per player. That's more collective experience than the rosters of Edmonton, Toronto and Hamilton.

-- Hey, maybe we're done with the "national" disgrace: On TSN 1290 before the game, CFL commish Mark Cohon said the league might ditch the term "nationals," and just call those players "Canadians" instead. The CFL adjusted the terms for its roster ratios in the latest CBA, bringing in "national" and "international" instead of "import" and "non-import." The terms feel kinda clunky, and are not widely popular with sports scribes and many fans.

-- While the Bombers were busy winnin', the son of a former Bomber was busy getting drafted. University of Louisiana at Lafayette standout Elfrid Payton went 10th overall in the Thursday night NBA draft -- the 76ers picked him up, and promptly traded him to the Orlando Magic. Payton is the son of former Bombers defensive end and Elfrid Payton, who played five seasons here over the course of a 14-year CFL Hall of Fame career.

-- Melissa Martin

Game balls

OFFENCE

It could be the start of a productive partnership between pivot Drew Willy and slotback Aaron Kelly. The duo combined for five catches for 100 yards and drew a pass-interference penalty that led to a TD.

DEFENCE

Tip o' the hat to the Bombers, who showed some fire early. Who could forget the tackle by Dan West, who blazed a trail after a Mike Renaud punt and clobbered Argonauts returner Chad Owens.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Welcome to the pros, Lirim Hajrullahu. Though the Bombers kicker hardly had to be heroic, he put up big boots and averaged 68.4 yards on kickoffs in his CFL debut.

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